WHY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS
Banish emotional stress from your mind and put away pain from your body; for youth and the prime of life are fleeting. Ecclesiastes 11:10 (NET)
I know a lot of Bible teachers have opined that man is a Spirit, he has a Soul and lives in a Body, however, I beg to differ in thought. This is because a close scrutiny of scriptures projects a little different concept.
I believe that the real (primary) part of man that will face the judgement or justification of God is our soul. The soul often synonymous with mind, heart and self, is the embodiment of our thoughts, intellect, will, feelings, and emotions.
The soul is the seat of our personality. That’s the real person.
When God made man in Genesis the second chapter, God formed man from the dust of the ground, breath His Spirit into man and man became a living soul. God made us living souls with decision-making capacity and feelings.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
The Bible warns that the soul that sins is what dies. Ezekiel 18:4 & 20. It is the soul that sins, not the body or spirit. The Spirit is pure and is regenerated at the new birth in Christ. The body will someday be destroyed in death and be replaced with an immortal one. The actions of the soul determines how we end.
Beloved, I am not trying to stir a theological debate. I only want to emphasize the need to give attention to the soul which is propelled by our emotions.
Evangelism is called soul winning. It is an effort to stir people’s emotions in the direction of God and His righteousness.
The major constituent of our soul is our emotions. That is what aids in our decision making, qualitative reasoning and feelings.
Emotion is defined as a strong feeling deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.
Emotions can be instinctive or intuitive feelings as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.
If our soul is so important to us and one of its major contents is our emotions then a course in emotional intelligence is highly essential and commendable.
The high rates of divorces, suicides and homicides are all proof that the Church and society at large need to give emotional intelligence a lot of attention.
Banish emotional stress from your mind else it can poison your soul and lead you astray.
Why do you let your emotions take over, lashing out and spitting fire, Job 15:12 (Msg)
A sound mind makes for a robust body, but runaway emotions corrode the bones. Proverbs 14:30 (Msg)
Our desire in these series on emotional intelligence is by God’s grace and through His word, to gain mastery over our emotions.
Shalom! And God bless you as you come along.